TSMC

AMD acquires Taalas to hardwire AI into silicon

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to acquire Taalas, a Toronto startup that builds inference accelerators customized—or hard-wired—for a single AI model. Taalas says its specialized chips can produce outputs for specific models thousands of times faster than traditional GPUs in exchange for less flexibility. The company, founded in 2023, has raised $219 million; its current chip runs a small version of Meta's Llama 3.1 and is manufactured on an older TSMC process using on‑chip SRAM. AMD plans to integrate Taalas' technology into its roadmap and systems alongside its CPUs and Instinct GPUs, including rack-scale offerings such as Helios. The acquisition follows a wave of AI-hardware deals, including Nvidia’s purchase of Groq assets for $20 billion seven months earlier, and fits AMD’s broader buying strategy to assemble components for integrated AI systems.

Apple posts record quarter but services disappoint

Apple reported a stronger-than-expected overall quarter driven by higher iPhone and Mac sales, but its services segment (including the App Store and Apple TV) missed analyst expectations. Total revenue rose about 16% to $109.4 billion and net income increased ~27% to $29.8 billion. Services revenue grew roughly 12% to $30.74 billion, about $500 million below forecasts, which, together with a cautious outlook, sent Apple shares down about 8% in after-hours trading. CEO Tim Cook cited ongoing component and chip production capacity constraints at TSMC as a reason for a conservative forward view. Apple guided to 9–11% revenue growth for the coming quarter and expects iPhone volumes to rise about 15%. The quarter was noted as Tim Cook’s last full quarter before John Ternus takes over as CEO in September.

Samsung forecasts chip shortage through 2028

Samsung expects the global chip shortage to worsen into 2028, the head of its memory division said when presenting quarterly results. The semiconductor unit reported an operating profit of 89.2 trillion won (~€54 billion) in Q2, more than 250 times the same quarter in 2025, driven by AI demand. Samsung has signed long-term supply contracts with the five largest datacenter operators and is close to agreements with five more; these deals run at least five years, would cover 60–70% of capacity and include prepayments and price floors. Samsung's mobile division recorded a first-ever quarterly loss of 700 billion won. Samsung aims to increase HBM4 revenue more than threefold in Q3 and expects its Texas fab in Taylor to come online on schedule.